You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than 12:01am Sunday, January 28). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Wedding Band. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
The Setting for Wedding bands opens up and we find ourselves in South Caroline during the summer os 1918. We start out on a Saturday morning and meet the majority of the cast at the beginning. The majority of the cast is comprised of strong black female leads. We have Mattie, a poor worker woman, Teeta, Mattie's young daughter, Lula, an older woman that lives next door to Mattie, Nelson, Lula's adopted son, Fanny, the landlady, Julia, the newest resident in their neighborhood, The bell man, a white traveling salesman, Herman, Julia's white lover, Annabelle, Herman's sister, and lastly Herman's mother.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students.
I believe that the stasis is broken when Herman falls ill so Julia has no other choice than to send for his family. There were other intrusions in the play that caused the stasis to wobble a bit but I think the true destroyer of it was this part of the play. Julia and Herman have been in love for 10 years. They continuously dream of when they can get married and run away together. Since they live in South Carolina interracial marriage is illegal at this point in time. Herman obviously feels some shame for being with Julia because he later admits this shame to her. He has never introduced her to his family partially because of this shame, partially because he knew his family would not approve, and also partially because he knew that it was illegal. When Herman falls ill Julia has to reach out to Herman's family because she realizes his life depends on it. Herman's mother and sister both arrive and are visibly upset, disturbed, and uncomfortable in the situation they are in. What follows is a dramatic unravelling of all the bent up racism, shame, insecurity, and pride that both the white and black characters involved in this love story feel.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The author chose this time period to represent the turbulence in the country regarding race civil rights. Stories like Herman's and Julia's are not out of the ordinary. Though racism still exists and this story would have held power no matter what time period she chose to set it in, this time period showcases a more obvious racism. During the early 1900's it was not uncommon to call black people nigger. It was not uncommon to shame and look down upon black people just because they were born with a different color of skin. Segregation was in full swing. Disenfranchisement and lack of education for black people were in full swing as well. The class and race divide was imposed completely and fully by the white race and this was the norm. To place an interracial love story in the middle of this time period in the deep south would of course result in more obvious racism towards the two lovers. Our author did this knowingly to highlight an important part of the race discussion. I also think we can find many parallels in this story line to our modern day conversation on race. Though most people (I say this liberally) are not as outwardly racist as the majority were during the early 1900s, racism is still large and rampant.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
I think the main question here is can love overcome race ties, laws, personal flaws, and the times. We have other mini dramatic questions as well that fall under neath this main category. Some of those are; Will Herman choose Julia over his family? Will Julia ever stop letting Herman put her second? Will Herman survive his illness?
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play.
Julia is a very interesting character. She has a major character development within the play that some may seem as her break down and then recovery and growth. She starts the play off timid and sweet. she is kind and generous and nice to her neighbors. Early on as a reader or viewer we see she obviously only wants Herman. She completely changes her life for this man. She moves around for him so they will not be caught, she avoids other men for him, she makes shirts and curtains and things for him and his family. Her life in its entirety is waiting for him and doing things for him. When we first meet Herman we hear a bunch of promises he makes to Julia that seem sincere but we learn he has been making these promises for years now. This is Julia's moment of Me against the Universe. Once Herman falls ill and Julia summons his family because he is so ill we see a shift in Julia. Herman's mother is rude, racist, and awful towards Julia. Julia does not shrink back and identify with her quite shy self as the other black women do in the presence of a white woman. She stands her ground and yells at Herman's mother. At this point in time we see the two women on the same level. The race laws fall away for a moment in time and we see two women coming head to head over this man. Here we see an almost thunderstorm happen. It is as if Julia goes into a vortex or black hole of swearing, shouting, truth, and justice. This is when we see her experience another one of Ball's obstacles, me against myself. She comes out on the other end and seems to want nothing to do with Herman or his family she has transformed and broken through that barrier. She seems to see the truth that has been before her eyes the entire time. Her life with Herman will never happen. Though he loves her she is still a black girl in his eyes. A second class citizen. He basically admits this when he says he felt shame when his mother met her on his sick bed. Julia throws them out and we see her shift. Her way of talking is different. She has a heavier deep south accent. Like she has let loose and given into herself a bit. When Herman comes around to talk to her she takes him back but does not change how she talks or who she is. This shows her character growth. This shows maturity as a character. She will not follow him around anymore. She will not move for him or wait for him desperately. Her final act is when she gives her ring and her tickets to Mattie. She sacrifices everything she has waited for for 10 years with Herman to give to Mattie. Someone of her own race that she has come to love and who is oppressed just like her in the deep south. I think the writer does this to highlight Julia's transformation. She has accepted herself and loves herself. Her skin and her race is what makes her unique and true. Her giving her future with Herman to Mattie was the final move needed to show Julia's transformation as her own person. She was no longer in Herman's shadow. She is strong and beautiful.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band.
I would say the most theatrical moments are actually from Julia. There is the moment she yells at Nelson and gets her thoughts out on him by telling him he is fighting her. " You fightin' me, me, me, not them... never them" (Childress pg. 226/ 110 in packet) She tells Nelson he is fighting her instead of the White people who are rude to him. She starts off defending Herman against Nelson but then tells Nelson to take his anger out on the white men who threw water on him instead of her relationship with Herman. This is backwards because in essence he is attacking Herman through her and she is directly telling him to attack the white race but to leaver her out of it. She groups herself with Herman as she has for so long but I think we can start to see her pull away from him here. The next big theatrical moment from Julia is when she yells at Herman's mother, "I'm your damn daughter-in-law, you old bitch! The battleship bitch! The bitch who destroys with her filthy mouth. They could win the war with your killin' mouth. the son-killer, man-killer-bitch.....she's killin him 'cause he loved me more than anybody in the world" (Childress pg 231/ 112 pink packet). We see her completely unravel on Herman's mother. This like discussed above is when we see her start her transformation. Her walls have come down and she sees clearly what her life is, what is expected out of her, what the people around her think of her and in a way how she now thinks of herself. I feel like in this theatrical moment she is truly true to herself for the first time in 10 years because she is no longer living for the fantasy of her and Herman's life together. She realizes it will not happen so she gives in and stops playing the part she thinks she has to play for it to come true.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Imagery is all over this play. This play is colorful in words, characters, opinions, thoughts, and climatic points. The first point of imagery I will touch on it Wedding Band itself is intense imagery because though Julia has a wedding band from Herman she cannot wear it on her finger but must on a string. I think the writer included this in the story so that we see that Herman's intentions are real in a sense. He really does love Julia even though we know they will never get their future. This wedding band imagery is so deep I could unpack it in an essay but I will just highlight another big impact of it. Julia gives the wedding ring to Mattie. This serves as her looking out for her peer. She has so long tried to push her way into a white family in the south that she has changed over time from it. She has her transformation, as discussed above, and her giving her future, symbol of love, and promise from Herman to Mattie so that Mattie may have a better future and hopefully more proof of her marriage to October to get her benefits (A problem she was facing in the play). She gives this up to help a woman of her own race. We see how her loyalty now lies. The second big point of imagery is the chest of keepsakes Julia has. It is her promise chest and she keeps it for when she and Herman will be married and she can start life as his wife. We see this as a chest of hopes and dreams. It is packed tightly and securely at first but at the end of the play Julia has all of its innards streamed about. This shows her abandonment and true understanding of the end of her relationship with Herman. It is not sad thought because she has grown from it and is now experiencing a bitter sweet revival of self. The third big imagery point is the obvious racism. This play is an obvious commentary on social injustice that can still be looked at and applied to today's society. We see racism in almost every comment or act in the play. It is rampant even amongst people in the same race. I think the author did a wonderful job in making this play relatable to every time period in that regard.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band.
Race, Family, Belonging, Trust, Racism, Color, Equality, Class, formality etc. There are so many more.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think?
Family is such a huge word. There are all different kinds of families in this play. We have Mattie who is biologically related to Teeta, her daughter. We also have Herman and his sister and mother. These two cases are biological families. We have the little girl that Mattie looks after whose name is Princess. She plays with Teeta constantly and is like a member of Mattie's family. We see Mattie group her and Teeta together often which highlights this. They seem to take on a family value as well. We also have Lula who has her adopted and not biologically related son, Nelson. This is a adopted mother son family. We have Herman who is white and his fiancee Julia who is black. This family is an interracial family. They are not married but hope to be soon and if they were they would create their own nuclear family division. We also have Mattie and her husband October who are married but do not have papers. Technically like Julia and Herman they consider themselves married but are not. This is a chosen domestic partnership and therefor e a type of family. We have the strong black women who are all neighbors; Fanny, Teeta, Mattie, Lula, and Julia. These women become friends and in turn show themselves to be each other's chosen family. They live close together, they help each other and they become a unit in a way. This unit is vital for Julia in her growth and learning and in turn character development in the play.
The entire play is built upon the varying definitions of family in the play. Families are linked by proximity, friendship, biological relation, marriage, birth, death, etc. So many links people together. I believe family goes deeper then biological connection.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Wedding Band. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
The Setting for Wedding bands opens up and we find ourselves in South Caroline during the summer os 1918. We start out on a Saturday morning and meet the majority of the cast at the beginning. The majority of the cast is comprised of strong black female leads. We have Mattie, a poor worker woman, Teeta, Mattie's young daughter, Lula, an older woman that lives next door to Mattie, Nelson, Lula's adopted son, Fanny, the landlady, Julia, the newest resident in their neighborhood, The bell man, a white traveling salesman, Herman, Julia's white lover, Annabelle, Herman's sister, and lastly Herman's mother.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students.
I believe that the stasis is broken when Herman falls ill so Julia has no other choice than to send for his family. There were other intrusions in the play that caused the stasis to wobble a bit but I think the true destroyer of it was this part of the play. Julia and Herman have been in love for 10 years. They continuously dream of when they can get married and run away together. Since they live in South Carolina interracial marriage is illegal at this point in time. Herman obviously feels some shame for being with Julia because he later admits this shame to her. He has never introduced her to his family partially because of this shame, partially because he knew his family would not approve, and also partially because he knew that it was illegal. When Herman falls ill Julia has to reach out to Herman's family because she realizes his life depends on it. Herman's mother and sister both arrive and are visibly upset, disturbed, and uncomfortable in the situation they are in. What follows is a dramatic unravelling of all the bent up racism, shame, insecurity, and pride that both the white and black characters involved in this love story feel.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The author chose this time period to represent the turbulence in the country regarding race civil rights. Stories like Herman's and Julia's are not out of the ordinary. Though racism still exists and this story would have held power no matter what time period she chose to set it in, this time period showcases a more obvious racism. During the early 1900's it was not uncommon to call black people nigger. It was not uncommon to shame and look down upon black people just because they were born with a different color of skin. Segregation was in full swing. Disenfranchisement and lack of education for black people were in full swing as well. The class and race divide was imposed completely and fully by the white race and this was the norm. To place an interracial love story in the middle of this time period in the deep south would of course result in more obvious racism towards the two lovers. Our author did this knowingly to highlight an important part of the race discussion. I also think we can find many parallels in this story line to our modern day conversation on race. Though most people (I say this liberally) are not as outwardly racist as the majority were during the early 1900s, racism is still large and rampant.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
I think the main question here is can love overcome race ties, laws, personal flaws, and the times. We have other mini dramatic questions as well that fall under neath this main category. Some of those are; Will Herman choose Julia over his family? Will Julia ever stop letting Herman put her second? Will Herman survive his illness?
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play.
Julia is a very interesting character. She has a major character development within the play that some may seem as her break down and then recovery and growth. She starts the play off timid and sweet. she is kind and generous and nice to her neighbors. Early on as a reader or viewer we see she obviously only wants Herman. She completely changes her life for this man. She moves around for him so they will not be caught, she avoids other men for him, she makes shirts and curtains and things for him and his family. Her life in its entirety is waiting for him and doing things for him. When we first meet Herman we hear a bunch of promises he makes to Julia that seem sincere but we learn he has been making these promises for years now. This is Julia's moment of Me against the Universe. Once Herman falls ill and Julia summons his family because he is so ill we see a shift in Julia. Herman's mother is rude, racist, and awful towards Julia. Julia does not shrink back and identify with her quite shy self as the other black women do in the presence of a white woman. She stands her ground and yells at Herman's mother. At this point in time we see the two women on the same level. The race laws fall away for a moment in time and we see two women coming head to head over this man. Here we see an almost thunderstorm happen. It is as if Julia goes into a vortex or black hole of swearing, shouting, truth, and justice. This is when we see her experience another one of Ball's obstacles, me against myself. She comes out on the other end and seems to want nothing to do with Herman or his family she has transformed and broken through that barrier. She seems to see the truth that has been before her eyes the entire time. Her life with Herman will never happen. Though he loves her she is still a black girl in his eyes. A second class citizen. He basically admits this when he says he felt shame when his mother met her on his sick bed. Julia throws them out and we see her shift. Her way of talking is different. She has a heavier deep south accent. Like she has let loose and given into herself a bit. When Herman comes around to talk to her she takes him back but does not change how she talks or who she is. This shows her character growth. This shows maturity as a character. She will not follow him around anymore. She will not move for him or wait for him desperately. Her final act is when she gives her ring and her tickets to Mattie. She sacrifices everything she has waited for for 10 years with Herman to give to Mattie. Someone of her own race that she has come to love and who is oppressed just like her in the deep south. I think the writer does this to highlight Julia's transformation. She has accepted herself and loves herself. Her skin and her race is what makes her unique and true. Her giving her future with Herman to Mattie was the final move needed to show Julia's transformation as her own person. She was no longer in Herman's shadow. She is strong and beautiful.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band.
I would say the most theatrical moments are actually from Julia. There is the moment she yells at Nelson and gets her thoughts out on him by telling him he is fighting her. " You fightin' me, me, me, not them... never them" (Childress pg. 226/ 110 in packet) She tells Nelson he is fighting her instead of the White people who are rude to him. She starts off defending Herman against Nelson but then tells Nelson to take his anger out on the white men who threw water on him instead of her relationship with Herman. This is backwards because in essence he is attacking Herman through her and she is directly telling him to attack the white race but to leaver her out of it. She groups herself with Herman as she has for so long but I think we can start to see her pull away from him here. The next big theatrical moment from Julia is when she yells at Herman's mother, "I'm your damn daughter-in-law, you old bitch! The battleship bitch! The bitch who destroys with her filthy mouth. They could win the war with your killin' mouth. the son-killer, man-killer-bitch.....she's killin him 'cause he loved me more than anybody in the world" (Childress pg 231/ 112 pink packet). We see her completely unravel on Herman's mother. This like discussed above is when we see her start her transformation. Her walls have come down and she sees clearly what her life is, what is expected out of her, what the people around her think of her and in a way how she now thinks of herself. I feel like in this theatrical moment she is truly true to herself for the first time in 10 years because she is no longer living for the fantasy of her and Herman's life together. She realizes it will not happen so she gives in and stops playing the part she thinks she has to play for it to come true.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Imagery is all over this play. This play is colorful in words, characters, opinions, thoughts, and climatic points.
The first point of imagery I will touch on it Wedding Band itself is intense imagery because though Julia has a wedding band from Herman she cannot wear it on her finger but must on a string. I think the writer included this in the story so that we see that Herman's intentions are real in a sense. He really does love Julia even though we know they will never get their future. This wedding band imagery is so deep I could unpack it in an essay but I will just highlight another big impact of it. Julia gives the wedding ring to Mattie. This serves as her looking out for her peer. She has so long tried to push her way into a white family in the south that she has changed over time from it. She has her transformation, as discussed above, and her giving her future, symbol of love, and promise from Herman to Mattie so that Mattie may have a better future and hopefully more proof of her marriage to October to get her benefits (A problem she was facing in the play). She gives this up to help a woman of her own race. We see how her loyalty now lies. The second big point of imagery is the chest of keepsakes Julia has. It is her promise chest and she keeps it for when she and Herman will be married and she can start life as his wife. We see this as a chest of hopes and dreams. It is packed tightly and securely at first but at the end of the play Julia has all of its innards streamed about. This shows her abandonment and true understanding of the end of her relationship with Herman. It is not sad thought because she has grown from it and is now experiencing a bitter sweet revival of self. The third big imagery point is the obvious racism. This play is an obvious commentary on social injustice that can still be looked at and applied to today's society. We see racism in almost every comment or act in the play. It is rampant even amongst people in the same race. I think the author did a wonderful job in making this play relatable to every time period in that regard.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band.
Race, Family, Belonging, Trust, Racism, Color, Equality, Class, formality etc. There are so many more.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think?
Family is such a huge word. There are all different kinds of families in this play.
We have Mattie who is biologically related to Teeta, her daughter. We also have Herman and his sister and mother. These two cases are biological families.
We have the little girl that Mattie looks after whose name is Princess. She plays with Teeta constantly and is like a member of Mattie's family. We see Mattie group her and Teeta together often which highlights this. They seem to take on a family value as well.
We also have Lula who has her adopted and not biologically related son, Nelson. This is a adopted mother son family.
We have Herman who is white and his fiancee Julia who is black. This family is an interracial family. They are not married but hope to be soon and if they were they would create their own nuclear family division. We also have Mattie and her husband October who are married but do not have papers. Technically like Julia and Herman they consider themselves married but are not. This is a chosen domestic partnership and therefor e a type of family.
We have the strong black women who are all neighbors; Fanny, Teeta, Mattie, Lula, and Julia. These women become friends and in turn show themselves to be each other's chosen family. They live close together, they help each other and they become a unit in a way. This unit is vital for Julia in her growth and learning and in turn character development in the play.
The entire play is built upon the varying definitions of family in the play. Families are linked by proximity, friendship, biological relation, marriage, birth, death, etc. So many links people together. I believe family goes deeper then biological connection.